Have you ever wondered why and how the term "Conspiracy Theory" became popularized and how it became associated with crazy people with outlandish unsubstantiated beliefs? Why this persists today despite the voluminous amounts of evidence that point to conspiracies at the highest levels of government, past and present? Last September I filmed this talk by Dr. Lance deHaven-Smith, which begins to explain this phenomenon. In 1967 in response to the growing criticisms of the Warren Commission on John F. Kennedy's assassination the CIA issued a memo to all their agents telling them to contact all their media assets (look up Operation Mockingbird) giving them talking points to dissuade people from conspiracy theories and connecting people who promote conspiracy theories to communists. Today we see continued defamation of people who believe their government conspires to commits high crimes against the people. This talk and Lance's book are a much needed investigation into this. Check it out and please share.

Dr. Lance deHaven-Smith discussed the growing body of theory and research on elite political criminality in the United States. In a 2006 peer-reviewed journal article, deHaven-Smith coined the term State Crimes Against Democracy (SCAD) to delineate a crime category for Watergate, Iran-Contra, Plame-gate, and other conspiracies in high office. SCAD research has been highlighted in special issues of American Behavioral Scientist (February 2010) and Public Integrity (June 2011). DeHaven-Smith's new book, Conspiracy Theory in America, was published in April 2013 by the University of Texas Press.

This talk was filmed in Denver on September 6, 2013 by Jason Bosch

UPDATE: On May 15, 2014 Newsweek published a hit piece on "conspiracy theories", which quotes Cass Sunstein, the author of the paper titled "Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures", which promotes "cognitive infiltration of conspiracy theory groups. http://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/23/plots-destroy-america-251123.html

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